If You'll Have Me
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1685b: He's not going to be welcomed by them unless he gives them a good reason to, but Will Schuester believes he's ready for them. - Berry-St series


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 80th cycle. Now cycle 81!_

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**"If You'll Have Me"  
In Gen2!World: G2!Will, G2!New Directions  
Berry-St series  
_(all series now listed in the communities tab in my profile)_  
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It had taken one week before the thoughts which had been slowly but surely taking over his brain finally led Will Schuester to do what he was about to do. One whole week, where he'd been forced to take a long, hard look at his life, to look at where it had been, where it was now, and where it was headed, if he did nothing to change it.

He'd never imagined this would be him. Every day now, when he passed that trophy case and saw the one that had belonged to him, the one he'd helped win for the school, with his own show choir, he stopped to stare at it a little while longer. He tried to remember what it felt like, to be that boy, with so much energy, and passion… That boy had a dream. He was going to be someone, he would be known, he would be…

He had become none of those things, and usually it was remembering that fact that would put an end to his daily contemplation in front of the trophy case. Even a year ago, when he'd just briefly gone ahead and taken over Glee Club, he had been nowhere near those dreams from his own high school days, but… being around those kids, seeing how much they wanted the same thing he'd wanted… It had awakened something in him he'd thought was gone for good.

Except Sue Sylvester had snuffed that out right quick, and ever since then nothing had gone right. He'd lost his job, his marriage, everything good in his life had been taken from him. It was enough to make anyone re-evaluate their place in life. He just hadn't expected for it to mean hairnets and ladles in the cafeteria.

He'd been seeing things start to change though, these past few weeks. Somehow, Quinn Fabray, one of the last people he would have expected to be interested in it, had taken it upon herself to regroup the Glee Club… and she was doing it. She'd seen them perform, and maybe they weren't ready, but they had something. For one fleeting moment, he'd felt a spark. But he let it go.

It wasn't until that new janitor kid, Jesse, had brought him to see what was happening in that choir room that his week of reflection began. And now here he was, outside the door again, only this time, he had showered, and changed, so not to appear in front of them as the lunch guy, but just someone there for them, a teacher. One step forward, and he knocked on the door frame.

They stopped what they were doing, turned at the sound. There were eleven of them now. Kurt Hummel had recovered, and he was back, and Will also saw Santana Lopez had joined their ranks.

"Mr. Schuester?" Quinn looked surprised, but at the same time almost hopeful. "Can we help you with something?"

"I, uh…" he took a breath, let it out, then stepped into the choir room. "I was actually hoping to help you, or… Can I speak to all of you for a minute?"

"Here to tell us about the lunch specials?" Puck frowned at him, and Mike tapped his arm, shook his head. Meanwhile, Quinn had motioned for the others to sit, and while some hesitated, eventually they had taken their seats, in the rows of red chairs in the back of the room. Will stood at the center of the room, facing them, and it took a moment more before he could get himself to say anything.

"Last year, I was standing just where I am now, some of you…" his eyes found Kurt, and Tina, and Artie, and Mercedes, and Rachel, "Some of you were here, you'll remember." He paused again. No point in beating around the bush. "I failed you. I tried to do something, and when it didn't work, I didn't fight hard enough. I know a lot's happened since then, and we've all… we've all experienced some hard times since then. We're not the same people we used to be. But you're here now, and that tells me maybe there's a chance to turn things around, to make up for lost time. I'm here today, thanks to the… intervention… of some unexpected allies," he went on, and he thought he saw Quinn smiling. "What I'm trying to say is, if you'll still have me, I would like to be your choir director. It's going to be hard, I'm not going to lie, and I might be out of practice, but this time… This time I will not back down, and I will fight for you, with everything I've got." _It's not much, what I've got left, but I'll dedicate it to you kids, all of it._

No one spoke at first, maybe unsure as to who should break the silence. Then Quinn raised her hand. "All in favor?" she asked the group. Mike was the first to add his vote, then Brittany, and Kurt, Rachel, Mercedes, then Puck, then Santana, and Artie, and Tina, even Sam, who was not as familiar with the man outside the cafeteria as they were. With each hand that went up, it seemed like Will's courage increased, and when all of their hands were aloft, he smiled, bowing his head. "Welcome back, Mr. Schue," Quinn beamed, and he'd never known her to hold so much affection toward him, but he took it gladly.

"Uh… hello?" a voice called, and they looked to the door to find they had one more visitor.

"Finn, what are you doing here, are you…" Will stared at him, the one he'd tried to bring into this club, before…

"I don't know why I'm here, but I thought I'd check this thing out." They'd never seen him so awkward and shy, at least not for a while. "Not saying I'm joining or anything, but…" he shrugged.

"You're always welcome, Finn," Will nodded, indicating the chairs. "Why don't you take a seat, we can get started."

THE END

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**____********A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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